Travels of an Australian Swami

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Monthly Archives: January 2013

ISKCON Wellington has two centres, one in Newlands and the other in Vivian Street downtown.

At the city centre devotees do book distribution, harinam and run a veggie club at the university. The Bhakti Lounge (as the centre is called) offers hatha yoga lessons, Bhagavad-Gita workshops and kirtan nights. Prasadam is provided at the in-house restaurant.

Sri Sri Gaura Nitai preside at our Newlands temple and the devotees living there serve Them very nicely. All the big festivals such as Krsna Janmastami and Gaura Purnima are observed, plus there is a regular Sunday program. The devotees also run a restaurant in the city and another inside a mall in the suburbs.

Over two years ago, Christchurch suffered a serious earthquake that damaged buildings in the city and suburbs, including our temple. Six months later, another severe earthquake struck, further damaging buildings and roads, which led to the downtown area being closed off altogether.

Unfortunately, our temple, which was not fully repaired from the first earthquake, sustained extensive damage. The city engineers deemed it irreparable and gave the order to pull it down.

Since that time the devotee community has met to discuss how to rebuild the temple centre. A wide variety of ideas were considered, ranging from staying on the same land or going to a different location. The City Council now requires extra strength building materials so there was a lot to think about.

In the meantime, Sunday programs and festivals are held in a rented hall and in devotee homes. The community has found that rather than being torn apart by the situation, there ‘s a closer mood of cooperation.

We pray for Nitai Gauracanda’s mercy so that the Christchurch devotees will be in a better position to serve Their Lordships and advance nicely in Krsna Consciousness.

The New Govardhana festival is celebrated every year starting around January 9th. Many devotees and guests come from the local area and other parts of Australia. This year special visitors were Prahladananda Maharaja, Deena Bhandu das and Narayani dasi. They gave seminars on topics such as Nector of Instruction, Vrndavan lila and how to further advance in Krsna Consciousness.

The festival concludes with a Rathayatra parade for the pleasure of Their Lordships Sri Jagannatha, Balarama and Subhadra devi. It starts from the bridge at the bottom of the farm. This year the weather was especially hot but Their Lordships and the devotees were offered locally grown watermelon at various points along the way. At the end the devotees enjoyed ecstatic kirtan and a sumptuous prasadam feast at the temple.

Devotee leaders from New Gokula farm gathered to discuss how they would like to develop the project in the decades to come. We first moved here in 1988 from our former farm at Colo River.

Nimai Prabhu, who has a degree in architecture and is completing his masters in town planning, consulted with Sastra Caksus, a devotee expert in Vastu Sastra. Together they drew up a master plan that includes single and married devotee accommodation, guest cottages, gardens, paths, roads etc.

Hopefully, by the mercy of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda, our dreams will be realised. Already many people visit, sometimes coming in buses all the way from Sydney.

The Canberra temple, which was purchased about 15 years ago, is located at 1 Quick Street/44 Limestone Avenue Ainslie ACT. It is actually a medium sized house that was converted to a temple to service the then small community of devotees. Since that time more devotees have arrived and thoughts are there for a bigger facility.

In the meantime, there are regular observances of festivals, harinam and Sunday feast programs. Twice a week devotees provide free meals to those in need at the Griffin Centre downtown. Canberra, being the official capital of Australia, is an important place for preaching. Anyone interested in helping can contact Ranganath Das, the temple president.

Every week, as is the case with most temples in Australia, the Canberra devotees hold programs in one of the community member’s homes. There they have kirtan, Krsna Katha, prasadam and enjoy each others association.

In ISKCON, our communities have grown steadily. Devotees like to meet in a relaxed environment, which is conducive to developing their personal relationships. Lord Caitanya has said that harinam and sadhu sanga are two important aspects to nurturing one’s Krsna Consciousness. Fortunately I am able to attend these home programs all over the world.

The Woodford Folk Festival is held annually over six days from Dec 27th through to January 1st. More than 2000 performers and 438 events are programmed in 35 venues featuring local, national and international guests. The average attendance is 200,000-300,000 people and 2012 was the 27th Woodford Folk Festival.

The devotees have been going to this festival for the last 10-15 years. We set up a big marquee with tables, chairs and servery area for distributing prasadam to tens of thousands of festival goers. There is also harinama and a book table where Srila Prabhupada’s books are sold to those interested in Krsna Consciousness. The devotees work very hard and are blissful in their service to Krsna.